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chris_sherlock
Reviews
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
Dreadful! Disgraceful! Just Plain Bad!
All of the above correctly describe "Austin Powers in Goldmember." It is, by far, the worst of the three Austin Powers movies. The events of this movie--the revelation that Dr. Evil is Austin's brother, the transformation of Mini-Me from villain to good guy--seem to close the door on the possibility that there will be a fourth Austin Powers movie. Given the disaster that is "Goldmember", the potential lack of a sequel can only be viewed in a positive light.
The far-too-numerous celebrity cameos (Donna D'Errico and a cast of thousands) seem to be nothing more than filler--they obviously didn't have enough of a story for the allotted time--and a distraction from the fact that "Goldmember" was little more than a recycled version of the first two movies. The philosophy behind "Goldmember" seems to have been, "Let's dust off the same old characters and have them do the same old things as they did in the first two movies and see if people still find it all entertaining." Granted, there were some variations in "Goldmember" on the first two Austin Powers movies. Beyonce Knowles was brought in as Foxy Cleopatra, the newest love interest for Austin, and Michael Caine appeared as Nigel Powers, Austin and Dr. Evil's father. Beyond that, "Goldmember" did not break much new ground, with the exception of the title character, a Dutch roller disco fan responsible for the kidnapping of Nigel Powers (Caine). Goldmember took a lot of the focus away from Dr. Evil who, in "Goldmember", seemed to be a mere shadow of the hilariously clueless dolt he was in previous Austin Powers movies.
If you haven't seen "Goldmember" yet, do yourself a favor. Don't watch it. You'll have wasted 95 minutes that you won't be able to get back. Surely you have better things to do with your time.
Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943)
One of Bob Clampett's Best!
This is a great short that is right up there with Clampett's earlier "Porky in Wackyland." In fact, the shorts are very similar in ways other than being Clampett creations. The odd characters that Porky encounters in "Porky in Wackyland" are very similar to the characters that the Fats Waller-esque cat runs across in the fantasy sequence in "Tin Pan Alley Cats."
Overall, "Tin Pan Alley Cats" is arguably one of the best shorts from the golden age of animation. They certainly don't make them like this anymore!